CVE-2025-46973
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAdobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.22 and earlier are affected by a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability that could be abused by a low privileged attacker to inject malicious scripts into vulnerable form fields. Malicious JavaScript may be executed in a victim’s browser when they browse to the page containing the vulnerable field.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceAdobe Experience Manager versions 6.5.22 and earlier contain a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in form fields. A low-privileged attacker can inject malicious JavaScript that persists in the form field and executes in victim users' browsers when they navigate to pages containing the compromised field.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 6.5.23.0< 2025.5.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine installed AEM versionAccess the AEM System Information console at /system/console/bundles or check the version.properties file in the crx-quickstart directory. The version is also displayed on the Welcome screen under 'Version'.Affected if The installed version is below 6.5.23.0 or below 2025.5.0, placing it within the affected range.
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Verify AEM product edition and release typeConfirm whether the installation is AEM 6.5.x on-premises or AEM as a Cloud Service, as both version schemes apply to different deployment models.Affected if The installation is AEM 6.5.x below 6.5.23.0 or AEM as a Cloud Service below the May 2025 (2025.5.0) release.
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Identify exposed form field componentsReview the AEM Forms or Core Components configuration to locate form field components (such as text inputs, textareas, or adaptive form fields) that accept user input and are rendered on published pages.Affected if Form fields that accept user-generated content are present and accessible to low-privileged users on the AEM instance.
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Assess low-privileged user permissions on formsIn the AEM Groups and Permissions console (/security/groups.html), verify whether standard users or contributors have write access to form field content or adaptive forms that get stored in the repository.Affected if Low-privileged users (contributors, community members, or standard authors) have the ability to create or modify form field content that gets persisted.
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Inspect stored form data for suspicious contentUse CRXDE Lite (/crx/de) or the Query Builder API to search form content nodes under /content or /libs for unusual script tags, event handlers, or encoded payloads within form field values.Affected if Malicious JavaScript payloads are found stored in form field repository nodes, indicating potential exploitation of the XSS vulnerability.
The environment is affected if the AEM version is below 6.5.23.0 (for 6.5.x) or below 2025.5.0 (for Cloud), AND low-privileged users can inject or modify content in form fields that are rendered on pages.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped6.5.23.02025.5.0
Upgrade to a patched Adobe Experience Manager version. Additionally, implement input validation and output encoding on form fields to prevent script injection.
AEM 6.5.23.0 or later for 6.5.x branch; AEM 2025.5.0 or later for cloud/2025 branch
- 1. Back up your current AEM instance including repository, database, and configuration files
- 2. Download the fixed version from Adobe Software Distribution or your licensed distribution channel: AEM 6.5.23.0 for on-premise or 2025.5.0 for cloud service
- 3. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
- 4. Stop the AEM instance
- 5. Run the upgrade installer following Adobe's official upgrade documentation for your version
- 6. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the AEM version in the About Adobe Experience Manager console
- 7. Test that the form fields where the XSS was previously possible no longer execute injected scripts
- 8. Deploy to production once validation is complete
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-46973 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-46973 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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